Business in Religion

What would have happened to you if there was no God in our world? What would have happened if there were no religions in the world? These are the two daunting questions that have made many religious scientists to ponder. We are also faced with these questions at some point in our lives. It is natural for every religious or non religious to ask these questions whilst we are faced with the stark reality of life in the universe; reality of violence, reality of poverty, reality of hunger, reality of natural disasters, reality of chronic diseases and list is numberless. It marvels us when we witness allegiance of the people to religious duties. People have been paying allegiance to religious duties over centuries. The religion plays a vital positive role in the lives the people whereas it also downgrades the human reasoning in regards to the current happening around us. 

Let me cite a few examples of religion can make you admire with an almost radical mindset.  I was attending a Sunday service in certain church. The pastor was very oracular in his delivery of preaching. He was a successful speaker, who could grip and play on the psyche of people. The pastor was excluding himself from the instructions on the morality of people. The tone of his preaching was very negative and downgrading the faithful. He claimed that the people are not living a life worthy of God, rather they a life of selfishness and immorality. This was not new that pastors involved in instructing the right way of life, but what surprised was that the faithful were like a sheep heeding the voice of the shepherd. The sheep was listening to the shepherd. It occurred to me now that the shepherd is always superior to the sheep and when the sheep is fat and ready to be slaughtered, the shepherd himself scoops the sheep to be handed over to the butcher. It was more alarming to know that the pastor himself has many flaws, which must be a turn off for the people. 

There is a popular understanding among the people that a pastor is worth millions of profit for the family. Some of the pastors would like to help their family. An iota of nepotism creeps into our society. There is one thing we hear today about pastors, that pastors have fat bank account and they siphon wealth to their own family. This is true to a large extent among a few pastors who look at church's wealth for personal gratification. People have nosedived to reason as to why one has doll out money to be prayed over. Can we buy graces from God? This is proving against St. Paul's concept of free graces irrespective of religion and class. As St. Peter spiritualized, ‘Silver and gold, I have none to give you, but I will give you what I have in the name of risen Christ” (Acts 3:6), we have received freely, lets give freely. Jesus instructed that, ‘no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” More important statement follows, “You cannot serve both God and money.” (Mat 6:24).

Religion can make a person conscientious to oneself and to one’s neighbor. This can be seen in our proximate when someone is conscientious because of the religious arousal. Religion can be a watchdog to the humanity. It can be a morality-check. It enforces the good and condemns evil in the humankind. It teaches values to the people; these values make one to build one's life. Consequently, religion paves a strong alleyway towards good and mends what is not right in the universe. 

I would like to point out a few incentives that people get from religion. Why do people clutch on to God and their religion? Why are people zealous about their religion? There are a few things that make them to clasp on to their religion and be passionate about their religion. 

Fear of God can make people hold on to their religion. In the early childhood I was taught in the church that God would punish if I don't obey my parents. God will punish and send me to the fire of hell if did not do my homework. God will punish me if I didn't go to church regularly. I was constantly reminded of my duties with a fear factor of God. Hence God became a cop in my early childhood. This understanding took convincing stem in me. This above fear factor seemed true when someone was struck unfortunate events. Some times it coincided with the threat of God. Many of the religious persons have this understanding that God will send us into eternal fire if we did wrong. We have to be redeemed in order to go to heaven. The church and other practices can make one pure and worthy of heaven. Only God can redeem us is the common understanding that drives one to do good and avoid evil. Can God really punish us is the question. We don't have to be frightened of God because God will never let us down. 

Fear of after life, is also a negative force driving one to hold on their religion. The early doctrinal understanding of hell and fire is still the teaching of many religions. There is new understanding given to this concept of hell and heaven. Heaven and hell is not a place that we get as reward for our works here on earth. They are situations in which we live. We create these situations; they can be here and now. A situation where God's values prevail or simply good values prevail. Therefore, it is not ideal for anyone to be fearful of these abstract concepts. We hear from the pulpit to live a good life otherwise we will be sent to the fire of hell. If we do good we go to heaven. Now I am not rebutting on that idea, because I really do not know whether they are rewards for our good or bad actions. 

Religion can be a cleansing pond to cleanse myself of all my sins and be pure again in order to live a good life. It's an incentive to every one who longs to be cleansed and be free. When someone is bogged down by the evil committed, naturally he needs to find a place to vent out. It is this juncture that religion comes in handy to be freed from all the immoralities. Someone can be a monster outside the sacred space but he can be well mannered within the religious sphere. Hence religion can become merely a place to rejuvenate, and just to begin anew day monstrosity. 

Indoctrination of the righteous, people can be follow instruction so blindly that they can even destroy other people who do not belong to their religion. In the struggle to keep one's religion active, the religious authorities can make the people hate other religious people. This can divide the community based on the religious allegiance. It is a struggle to prove that one's religion is superior to that of others. Most of the religious violence is driven by this one concept that one religion is truer than the other, neglecting the fact that religion is man-made entity. Indoctrination is the worst evil in our society, where humanity is divided and seed of hatred is sown in the hearts of the innocent. 

Religion is trendy charm to many people. It is trendy to try out different religions. For example, western world is bewitched to the eastern way of practicing religion. It is attractive because of its colors and bodily peace. There is an element of fashion and selfishness. It can provide people with personal gratification regardless of God and his existence. Most often these attractions cannot last long because there is always a better religions in the market. 

Religion is the platform and a springboard to launch one's own political and personal ideologies. We have known the many political ideologies have met their start at the religious scopes. It is to emphasize my earlier point of indoctrination; indoctrination by the powerful to spring to the heights of glory. 

Religion is divisive. In many circumstances religion has caused division among the people of the same community. People of every walk of life live together but as regards to religion people failed to accept each other. When I was studying in India it is customary for the Hindus and Muslims and Christians to go to same school and learn to read together. Hence school becomes a second home for most of us and education is noble. In our contemporary world every religion tries to promote religious awareness among the students. It would be noble cause for any school to promote morality, which comes from religion but not divisive indoctrination. 

Religion is comforter; Richard Dawkins once pronounced, that religion can give a person some comfort when the person is in sorrow or pain. It is true to a large extent, that we get our comfort in God. We go to church or worship places to make ourselves quenched; spiritual nourishment. We need someone to pay heed to our ordeals in life, especially if one is suffering with prolonged illness. This will make religion like a counseling clinic, where there is the pastor, the comforter. We need this clinic when we are in need of it. Hence religion is really a use at convenience.

Religion is a sedative to the human aggression. It is scary to hear about the stories of God being angry with the people for their evil behaviors. Children are constantly told that God would punish you if you don't do good. This would be a wrong approach in indoctrinating children that God is a police or nosy in our business. Religion brings in an eschatological dimension to human existence; if you do good on earth you'll be rewarded with heaven or virgins or superior beings, if you do bad you'll be sent to hades, where there will be grinding of teeth. Therefore, religion can make our warrior genes mellow down because of its aftermath consequences. Religion will help calm down human aggression. 

In conclusion, I would like to ask you the readers, what is religion for you? 

Are you shy to speak about God?

A daunting question that entertains most of our young people today is, “Is God really a private affair?” This question has challenged the theologians, atheists, agnostics, and the believers in God. Some would distinguish between religion and God; religion is a private affair and God is a universal phenomena. Prof Richard Dawkins, an atheist, a rationalist believes that concept God is not a private affair; hence we speak and preach about him in our churches, mosques, and temples. God is not really a private affair that cannot be talked about outside but we have a draw a line when we want to prove that God of this religion or that religion is more important or more Godly than others; this is limiting God to human institution.

In my homily on Easter Sunday, I called upon all the young people not to afraid or shy to speak about God; we all need God. Some of us need him only when we are struck with some chronic illness or succumb to depression or loss of someone loved one. We need God all the time, at times, we are not aware of his silent presence in our lives, for he probably lets us enjoy our freedom as a mother would watch her child enjoying in the meadows. God will watch over us just a mother watches over her children from the corner of her eyes. Just to elaborate aforementioned imagery of God, let us think about our own birth; we were formed in our mother’s womb in darkness and silence. No one knew how you going to look like yet mother had a hope that her child will be born as full grown and healthy baby. When being formed in our mother’s womb, who do you think gave us that form? I know I sound un-scientific but why is that some tissues are not formed properly and baby is deformed? Do the scientists have an explanation? Probably yes that the tissue is premature or misconception and etc. But my point is, can the doctors or mother put that deformed baby to right form to be born as a fully healthy baby. That’s where God comes in; we have no control over certain realities of life. Now, you can elaborate this imagery and even think of millions of other realities of life to have the knowledge of God and more importantly believe in that power of the divine God.

During the World Youth Day in Brazil, Pope Francis called upon the millions of youth gathered in Copacabana beach, to go and make disciples of all nations. He expressed Jesus’ call to the young people to make disciples not because one would like to, or if one has time, but it is a mission we are born to do. This message struck a cord in myself. But I want the young people who heard this call from God, to make disciples to speak and tell me whether you are doing it, whether you are fulfilling God’s purpose for you. Are you shy to speak of God when you have an experience of God? Stop thinking that only saints, priest, bishops and righteous persons have God experience. Each and every person born in this universe has the experience of God, including Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Kruass and Sam Harris, but their God experience is covered up by their own intelligence; including the intelligence is given by God, because not all of us are given same level of intelligence, some people have low intelligence even if they are trained by a best teacher.

What is your God experience? When I was growing up, I did not pay attention too much to the birthday and its significance, but over the years it dawned on me that our birth is first proof of God’s existence, and for me my birth is even more profound, in which event I had an experience of God. We were not aware that we had this God experience but ask our mothers they would agree with me that, it was a profound God experience when they gave birth to their children after a long labour pain. For some parents, the innocent and natural smile of their children is a God experience. So now, try to remember what are you God experiences? If you have any, do not be shy to speak about it, hence God’s power and presence can make the others aware about their experiences of God.

Often times, young persons are have enormous peer pressure where they create an ideal world for themselves and other; this world they live in is virtual world where they find themselves jumping into band wagon. It takes less courage to follow someone’s ideals like the sheep that follows the shepherd but it requires extra courage to stand out in a crowd; it requires humility and humiliation to speak up your convictions and experiences. Jesus stood out in the crowd and spoke up against the popular ideologies and practices. This brought him great humiliation and death itself, but he is not forgotten and his voice is not supressed in the crowd, rather his voice is spoken after 2015 years to challenge the popular ideologies that bring injustice and inequality.

Why do our young people shy away from speaking about God and for God? I have a few usual suspicious arguments. 1. We live in the 21 Century; I have had a few experience where people challenging me that what is not tangible to our senses or cannot be proved by scientific methodology, is not really true. Hence, we seek for truth just like Richard Dawkins seeks for it all his life. Can anyone prove how different forms of living creatures came into this planet, or who gave them that form? Can you prove why a bird does not look like a snake? Can human scientist do that? We cannot prove everything in the universe; much less we cannot grasp every reality from our senses, for our senses are limited to certain extent only. 2. Your God and my God; this is long standing misconception that is being indoctrinated in our young people. Christian God is different that of Hindu God or Muslim God. We have come away from this understanding. God is universal and is One True God. Every religion teaches One God but different ways of approaching this God. Hence do not differentiate between gods. 3. God, a private affair; most would think God has to be in the Church, temple, or mosque. We are shy to bring him out of these worship places to our day to lives. We can have God experience right in my work place or in the aeroplane. God must be everyone’s business not only priests and believers. God must be a public affair; we must talk about God in our day today life. Do not be shy to begin your rocking party with a prayer. 4. God is a concept; for some God might be just a concept to discuss, to argue pro God or against God. Here, we are trying to limit God to merely human entities. God becomes a subject matter of our lives. 5. Speaking God and humiliation; some of us shy to speak about God in our daily forum of discussions. We are fearful that someone else might humiliate us for speaking about God. We might be considered weak and “old stylist”. This is an issue for most our young people. We have to come away from it, unless we speak about God, we cannot bring God someone’s life who has not God. This was an issue for me when I was in the college, but I grappled with it and come away from that shyness; I am not afraid to speak about God anywhere despite knowing that my listeners think I am crazy young man who speaks about God. 6. God and technology; someone might inclined to think that the technology is our God. We can mend or bend using the modern technology. Technology can help us only to an extent after which we rely on God’s providence. For example, can any technology cure deadly leukaemia and save people dying from it?

Therefore, young persons like me, do not be shy or fearful to speak of God in any forum. Let your life be full of God so God can flow from you to others in the world. We need God in our lives not merely when we are on our deathbed or when we are abandoned by our loved ones, but we need God all the time. Do not try to put down or humiliate someone who believes and speaks about God, you also will realize that you need God too but may be not yet. Let us try to put God before us, when we do that, our human ways of violence and power are sidelined, because God’s ways are not human ways.